The relative orientation of two or more connected objects often can be a critical aspect of the way the objects perform their function. This may be illustrated simply with reference to a golf club, although those skilled in the art will recognise numerous other products and situations where similar issues arise and reference throughout this specification to golf clubs only should not be considered limiting.
A golf club has a shaft connected to a club head through a hosel in the club head.
There are three primary axes in relation to a golf club head to be considered:                1. X axis: ball to target line, at the centre of the ball level, passing through the centre of a ball (if present);        2. Y axis: ball to golfer line, at the centre of the ball level, parallel to the ground and substantially 90 degrees to X axis        3. Z axis: ball to sky line, perpendicular to the ground plane, and the X and Y axes.        
There is a point in the club head, at the centre of the ball level, where all three axes intersect.
The relative orientation of the club head with respect to the shaft is a critical element in the performance of the club. Three aspects are particularly important when the golfer is in the address position with the club resting on the ground:                1. The loft angle, which relates to the angle or slope of the club head face with respect to the Z axis. For a driver golf club the loft angle of the face is generally 7° to 15°;        2. The lie angle, which relates to the angle of the axis of the golf shaft with respect to the Y axis. For a driver golf club the lie angle of the face is generally 58°;        3. The face angle which relates to whether the clubface is looking down the fairway. A face angle is open if the face is turned away (about the vertical Z axis) from the target to the right hand side of the fairway for a right hand golfer, and neutral if pointing at the target, and closed if the face is turned away from the target to the left hand side of the fairway for a right hand golfer. The face angle for a driver golf club is generally neutral but can be up to 2° open or closed by design.        
Golf clubs for different shots generally will have different loft lie and face angles. However, even for similar clubs from different manufacturers (e.g., 8 irons) there is generally a range of these angles to suit different golfers.
One consequence of this is the necessity for suppliers of golf clubs to maintain an inventory of clubs that cover the wide variation of lie and loft for each club. If a reliable and accurate method was available for varying the lie and loft of a club then it would be possible for a supplier to stock a smaller range of clubs which could be individually adjusted to the desired settings, thus saving costs to the supplier.
Another issue that could be addressed is the variation that can occur during manufacture of a golf club. It could be that a club may have a lie angle and/or loft that is different than that designated for the club as a consequence of manufacturing variation. It would be useful to have a method of correcting for this which could benefit the golfer by providing an accurately formed club, and the manufacturer/supplier in reduction of discarded clubs due to manufacturing error.
Further, some clubs are better configured by only changing two or even just one parameter, for example:                1. Drivers: Change loft and face angles only;        2. Fairway woods and hybrids: Change loft and lie angles only;        3. Irons and wedges: Change loft and lie angles only;        4. Putters: Change loft and lie angles only.        
It may be seen that it would be useful to provide independent adjustment of the three parameters.
Previously known technology utilised sleeves having an angled internal bore, where rotation of the sleeve resulted in an adjustment of the angle of a shaft connected to the sleeve relative to the club head in which the sleeve was inserted. Other devices introduce a secondary angled bore to provide a wider range of settings.
While an advancement over previous methods of permanently deforming the connection between shaft and head, such techniques have several disadvantages.
For example, there is a significant amount of noise in that there are a number of unwanted, and/or compromised settings, which are not particularly useful or accurate. Preferably, this “setting noise” should be minimised or eliminated.
Further, the inclined bore technology either provides a limited range of adjustment, or is more complicated to use and expensive to manufacture.
It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
Adjustment of a golf club has been discussed here as an example of a common situation where adjustment of the relative orientation of two objects, in this case a shaft and a club head of a golf club. However the general situation is very common, especially where the orientation of an object with respect to a shaft is involved.
All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
Throughout this specification, the word “comprise”, or variations thereof such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.